The Etiquette of Sleep in Islam

A look at islamic sleep etiquette in Islamic teaching, drawn from the Quran and authentic hadith.

Even sleep, the most passive act of the day, carries a specific etiquette in Islamic teaching – a set of practices the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is recorded following consistently, treating the transition into unconsciousness each night as a moment still worth structuring around the remembrance of Allah.

Islamic sleep etiquette: Sleeping on the Right Side

A hadith recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim describes the Prophet ﷺ instructing a young companion, Al-Bara ibn Azib (RA), to lie down on his right side before sleeping, and to recite a specific supplication ending with the words, “and if I die that night, I die upon the fitrah,” the natural, upright state of belief. This posture, combined with the recitation, is described in classical scholarship as the recommended manner of settling in for sleep, distinct from lying flat on the stomach, a position the Prophet ﷺ is separately reported to have discouraged in a hadith recorded by Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah.

Ayat al-Kursi and the Last Two Verses of Al-Baqarah

A hadith recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari describes a companion assigned to guard charity being taught by a captured thief, who turned out to be a devil, that reciting Ayat al-Kursi before sleep would keep a protector from Allah with the person until morning, with no devil approaching them – a hadith the Prophet ﷺ later confirmed was accurate despite the source. A separate hadith recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim describes the last two verses of Surah al-Baqarah as sufficient protection for whoever recites them at night, making these passages a standard part of the bedtime recitation alongside the two final surahs of the Quran, Al-Falaq and An-Nas.

Dusting the Bed Before Lying Down

A hadith recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim describes the Prophet ﷺ instructing that when a person goes to their bed, they should dust it off with the edge of their garment, since they do not know what may have settled on it in their absence, and then say Allah’s name while doing so. Scholars cite this as an example of a practical precaution paired directly with an act of remembrance, treating even basic physical safety before sleep as an occasion to invoke Allah’s name.

Not Sleeping Immediately After Eating

While not addressed through a single specific hadith on digestion, classical scholarship draws on the Prophet’s ﷺ general emphasis on moderation, along with his recorded habit of delaying the night prayer until after some initial rest and rising well before dawn for further worship, to encourage a sleep pattern that avoided excess in either direction – neither sleeping away the entire night without devotion, nor depriving the body of the rest it required to function well the following day.

Waking With Gratitude

A hadith recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari describes the specific supplication the Prophet ﷺ taught for waking: praise be to Allah, who gave us life after having caused us to die, and unto Him is the resurrection. Scholars note the deliberate framing here – sleep described as a form of death, and waking as a form of resurrection – treating each ordinary night’s sleep as a small, recurring reminder of the greater resurrection every person is taught to expect at the end of their life.

What to Do After a Disturbing Dream

A hadith recorded in Sahih Muslim describes the Prophet ﷺ distinguishing between two types of sleeping experience: a good dream, described as coming from Allah, and a disturbing dream, attributed to Shaytan. For the second category, he taught a specific set of responses – seeking refuge in Allah from its evil and from the evil of Shaytan by spitting lightly three times to the left, changing the side one is lying on, and refraining from mentioning the dream to anyone, since a hadith recorded in Sahih Muslim adds that a disturbing dream cannot cause any actual harm so long as it is not spoken about. Scholars point to this instruction as a distinct piece of Islamic sleep etiquette in its own right, separate from the protective recitations recommended before sleep, addressing what a person is taught to do after the fact rather than only how to prepare beforehand, and reflecting the same underlying principle found throughout Islamic teaching on unseen harm: that disturbance from Shaytan is real, but that specific, simple responses – seeking refuge in Allah, physical action, and silence rather than dwelling on or spreading the fear – are sufficient to prevent it from causing any lasting effect.

For a closely related topic, see our discussion of The Virtue of Friday (Jumu’ah) in Islam. Readers wanting to verify the primary sources directly can consult Sunnah.com for the full Quranic text and hadith references.